On April 23, 1978, Betis and Rayo faced each other in Seville three days before the end of the League. Betis, still the current Cup champion, was at risk of relegation. Not so for Rayo, which that year debuted in the First Division with a sensational first round, which earned it the nickname Giant Killer. In the second it was less, but there were no problems.
The eve was marked by rumors of Espanyol and Racing’s cousins, also in danger, over Rayo. Normal in those times. The match turned out to be ugly and Betis resolved it with a single goal in the 72nd minute, the work of their center forward, Hugo Cabezas, finishing off with a header in a brave jump between Tanco, Alcأ،zar and Anero.
One more match destined in principle to be forgotten. But on Wednesday the Federation received a letter from Marcelino Gil, president of Rayo, in which he requested that an attempted purchase of the match by Betis be investigated. A great scandal is formed and throughout the month of May there is a trickle of appearances, statements and confrontations in the old federative headquarters of Alberto Bosch. What some said was pulled by others, like cherries in a basket, with a ghostly six million pesetas as a backdrop. In successive days, Marcelino Gil, Nأ؛أ±ez Naranjo (president of Betis), the Rayistas Fermأn, Rial, Alvarito, their coach, Hأ©ctor Nأ؛أ±ez, and the Betis players Anzarda, Sabatأ© and Praise.
The six million came from what the Rayistas had as a natural bonus from their own club for winning, 45,000 pesetas, plus the 275,000 that Espanyol and Racing offered jointly. That amount, multiplied by the 15 summoned, plus the masseuse and double for the coach, gave six million, rounded up. And someone would have tried to change that amount from a bonus for winning to a bonus for losing.
The investigation established that three hours before the game, Rayista Rial called the soccer player Sabat, still at the concentration hotel; Alabanda was the one who took the phone and passed it to Sabat, which would implicate him tangentially. Rial would later say that he had spoken with Sabat about things about the AFE, of which they were both directors, but the investigation concluded that he had explained to him that they had six million to win and that if Betis gave them that amount they would let themselves be defeated. That remained unanswered until the break of the game (they were 0-0), when the Rayo delegate told Fermأn that the footballer Anzarda wanted to talk to him (they had been teammates shortly before in the Madrid).
Fermأn came out and Anzarda told him that they were willing to give them the six million if they let them win. Fermأn entered the locker room stunned, they asked him and he commented on it. Hأ©ctor Nأ؛أ±ez, who had managed the bonuses for winning, objected. The final conclusion was that the bribery attempt was rejected.
The matter becomes a perfect x-ray of the type of manipulations that occurred in this type of matches with unfortunate frequency. As they were difficult to prove, since everything was based on testimonies and confrontations with conflicting versions, they were usually left unresolved. But here the Federation found a motive, the presence at the origin of the matter of Rial and Sabat, both directors of the AFE, the first of them vice president. The AFE had only been in existence for a short time and was strongly opposed by Pablo Porta, president of the Federation. This event was the ideal opportunity to discredit the young union, which for its part opened a file to the two involved that was taken calmly.
On June 8, the Competition Committee, after slipping the concept that it was not the clubs that could be sanctioned but the people involved, suspended Rial and Anzarda for eight months, as successive instigators of the failed attempt to buy and sell the match. Both will serve the sanction. What was not investigated was where Anzarda could have gotten those six million, since that would have implicated Betis as a club and Nأ؛أ±ez Naranjo was a member of the Federation. Nobody could believe that the six million were intended to be put by the Betis players out of their own pockets, but…
Marcelino Gil, upset with everything, resigned. Betis went down, despite that victory. Nأ؛أ±ez Naranjo also resigned, but they convinced him to continue, although only one more year. Rial and Anzarda would return to play with their clubs later in the following season, once eight months had passed.
